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Commitment to sustainability - Vanguard Properties adopts BREEAM® certification.
Aware of the impact that its activity as a real estate developer has, both for the community and the environment, from the very start Vanguard Properties has made a commitment to a social and environmental sustainability that would contribute effectively minimise this effect.
Therefore, following this commitment which it pursues proactively and far beyond legal requirements, Vanguard Properties is proud to be one of the first national real estate developers to have residential projects in Lisbon and the Algarve to have the prestigious BREEAM® certification.
In the Algarve region, the certificated projects in development phase are: Bayline, a condominium with 256 apartments in Armação de Pera on the fringe of the Lagoa dos Salgados Natural Reserve, and WhiteShell, a unique real estate project located at Nossa Senhora de Rocha, a short distance from the same location. In Lisbon, Infinity Tower, a building with 26 floors under construction in the Praça de Espanha area, next to the Monsanto Natural Park, what is considered the lung of Lisbon, has the same certification.
BREEAM® - Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, is a construction project sustainability evaluation system created at the start of the 1990s by a totally independent body: the BRE Group, the largest philanthropic organisation in the United Kingdom in the construction area.
Apart from BREEAM®, the BRE Group also encompasses a number of companies that develop their activity in the same sphere and invest their profits in training and in studies and research that supports BREEAM®s know-how and acts as a scientific benchmark for the whole sector.
One of the most widely well-known and respected certification entities in the world in its field, it has 10 categories of evaluation: management, pollution, transport, energy, waste, water, health and well-being, innovation, territory and raw materials, thereby allowing a comparison between buildings using the same presuppositions and objectives. The results mean an international points-based five-level grading scale system - Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding -, using stars from one to five.
Developed in line with the sustainability objectives set out in Agenda 2030 promoted by the UN, this certification has already shown itself to be an advantageous tool for all stakeholders involved in the three phases of the real estate process - project, construction and commercial operation -, acting as a handbook for investors, developers, architects and builders in the efficient and prudent management of resources, while at the same time contributing towards the urgent sustainability of the planet and adding to the value of the asset in the short, medium and long term.
As various studies have confirmed, a residential project with a BREEAM® certification is a house for better living.
In the short and medium terms, apart from comfort, savings on energy and water consumption should also be highlighted thanks to the sound management potential from BREEAM®. These immediate savings results will accumulate over the course of the commercial operation, over a long term perspective while the monitoring of processes and materials from the durability and sustainability point of view suggested by the programme ensures not just a healthy ageing of buildings but also a greater lifespan, which means that a house with a BREEAM® certificate is not just an environmentally friendly property but also an asset with added value.
The Vanguard Properties projects mentioned are classified classified at Design State with BREEAM®.
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